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Struggling Michael Grabner, Leafs look to get some bite back in their game

Grabner, who's ready to play after having some broken teeth fixed, and coach Mike Babcock hope to shake off their recent slump when they visit the Bruins on Tuesday.

After Michael Grabner tallied five goals and two assists in December — his best stretch as a Leaf so far — he posted just one goal and one assist in 12 games in January. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star file photo)

The welcome four-day break was spent either with family and friends, or off on a quick getaway to some warm weather, with some time in front of the TV watching the NHL all-star game.

Michael Grabner spent his break in a dentist’s chair.

“It’s alright. It’s how you feel when you get a puck to the face,” Grabner said Monday as the Leafs returned to practice before jetting off to Boston in advance of Tuesday’s game against the Bruins.

Grabner was referring to his face-meets-puck moment in last Tuesday’s game in Florida, where the vulcanized rubber came up near the Leafs blue line on a sharp angle and struck the personable Leafs winger directly in the mouth.

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Grabner had zero time to react. He was in shock more than anything else at the moment and, after taking some freezing agents from the medical staff, he wanted to get back into the game.

When he got back to Toronto, though, his injury was much more severe than Grabner and the Leafs had hoped. Grabner let the rest of the world in on the damage, tweeting about “six root canals” that had to be performed to help repair the damage.

“Yup, six root canals . . . I broke five teeth and another one was loosened,” he said.

“I had some time there (during the break) so I got them done. When it happened, I wanted to go back into the game and play. I got some treatments, the doctors did a good job of freezing me up.”

Grabner, sporting a full face shield at practice Monday, will be back in the lineup Tuesday, playing on a line with Tyler Bozak and P.A. Parenteau.

Outside a swollen lip, a small but noticeable cut to his upper chin and some bruising around his nose, Grabner says he’s ready to go. He downplayed the incident, saying he had to rebound from the injury quickly so he could spend some of the break with family.

That followed the often-heard hockey player’s refrain — suffer in silence — but the pain was definitely there, and still is.

“It’s up there, definitely,” Grabner said when asked if the puck to the face was the most painful thing he’s experienced as a player.

“One of the more painful things I’ve had. I’m trying to get used to the (face shield) to tell you the truth, it fogs up. I haven’t had one on in a while.”

Playing on that second line with Bozak and Parenteau, Grabner will be called on to lift the Leafs out of a scoring slump that has seen the team win once in the last 10 games and score just 11 goals over that stretch.

Leafs coach Mike Babcock mentioned Monday that, in terms of scoring chances, Grabner and Morgan Rielly were the two highest-rated Leafs in the past two games.

But like many of his teammates, Grabner has cooled off offensively, especially during the team’s losing skid. After five goals and two assists in December — his best stretch as a Leaf so far — he posted just one goal and one assist in 12 games in January.

“Maybe some bad luck as a team, but not individually. You have to work through that (scoring slump),” Grabner said. “We’ve all been struggling a bit but you have to stick to it and a few of them (goals) will come.”

Babcock was equally introspective Monday. In speaking about his team’s lack of scoring, the coach didn’t shy from pointing a finger at his own coaching performance.

“If you want to motivate a team, get 23 motivated guys in the same room,” Babcock said. “We’re in a process where young guys are coming, so they’ll be in here in time, so every day is a tryout for everyone here. And you can evaluate the coach, too, and give him a pretty hard mark. We aren’t playing well.”

“The bottom line is we have to play harder,” Babcock added. “We’re a minus-8 on special teams the last bit, so there’s lots of room to improve.”

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